Evelyn Otheto Stoddard Weston (1895-1990)

“Otheto”, as she was known, was a California painter and photographer of the early to late 20th Century.  Evelyn “Otheto” Weston was born in Monterey, California on September 30, 1895.  She was the illegitimate daughter of well known Monterey Peninsula artist Evelyn McCormick and poet Charles W. Stoddard.  Abandoned by her parents, Otheto was raised in orphanages and foster homes until 1914 when she moved to, and settled in, Berkeley, California.

In 1915 she appeared as Eve in the pageant at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.  One month after her appearance she married Harry Weston. 

From 1928-1943 she maintained a small studio in Columbia, California.  To the old timers of Columbia she became known as “Nugget Nell”.  A self-taught artist, she painted and photographed the historic landmarks of the area which were used in her book Mother Lode Album.

During the 1930’s one of her paintings hung in the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Her works have been exhibited at the Crocker Gallery in Sacramento (now the Crocker Museum), the Haggin Museum in Stockton, and the Kingsley Club in Sacramento, California.  Evelyn Otheto Stoddard Weston died in Grass Valley, California on June 2, 1990.

Source:  Edan Milton Hughes, Artists In California: 1786-1940 (2002)

Submitted by Gary Stanley/ArtSanDiego